Blood Vessels News and Research

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FDA ‘ups’ safety warnings for blood clots on birth control pill labels

According to federal health regulators more information needs to be added to labels on a popular class of birth control pills that includes Bayer AG's Yaz and Yasmin, to show they may raise the risk of blood clots. A clot in blood vessels can prove fatal if it breaks loose and travels to the lungs, heart or brain.

11 Apr 2012

Study provides guidelines on how to combine antiangiogenic drugs with nanotherapeutics

Combining two strategies designed to improve the results of cancer treatment - antiangiogenesis drugs and nanomedicines - may only be successful if the smallest nanomedicines are used. A new study from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers, appearing in Nature Nanotechnology, finds that normalizing blood vessels within tumors, which improves the delivery of standard chemotherapy drugs, can block the delivery of larger nanotherapy molecules.

10 Apr 2012

Researchers question wisdom of blocking DP1 in patients prone to cardiovascular disease

Niacin, or vitamin B3, is the one approved drug that elevates "good" cholesterol (high density lipoprotein, HDL) while depressing "bad" cholesterol (low density lipoprotein , LDL), and has thereby attracted much attention from patients and physicians. Niacin keeps fat from breaking down, and so obstructs the availability of LDL building blocks.

9 Apr 2012

Inflammasome involved in regulating Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Scientists at Trinity College Dublin have discovered that a part of the immune system called the inflammasome is involved in regulating the development of one of the most common forms of blindness, called Age-Related Macular Degeneration.

9 Apr 2012

Left ventriculography being routinely performed during coronary angiogram

An invasive heart test used routinely to measure heart function is being dramatically overused, especially among patients who recently underwent similar, more effective tests, according to a new study from the Stanford University School of Medicine.

7 Apr 2012

FDA grants IDE approval for Arteriocyte's Magellan MAR01 Phase I Compartment Syndrome clinical trial

Arteriocyte, a leading biotechnology company with offices in Cleveland, Ohio and Hopkinton, Massachusetts announced today approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to initiate a Phase I clinical trial using its Magellan MAR01 technology in the treatment of Compartment Syndrome.

7 Apr 2012

Anti-ceramide antibody may prevent radiation gastrointestinal syndrome

A new study offers the first evidence of a drug capable of preventing lethal damage to the gastrointestinal (GI) tract caused by exposure to high levels of ionizing radiation, such as those occurring during a nuclear incident.

5 Apr 2012

BIND announces data from BIND-014 Phase 1 trials on prostate cancer

Nanomedicine research at the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT funded by a $5 million grant from the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) has delivered the first nanomedicine shown to successfully target prostate cancer cells and deliver docetaxel chemotherapy in high concentrations in Phase I clinical trials.

5 Apr 2012

VCAM1 nanobodies can effectively visualize atherosclerotic lesions

In collaboration with a Brussels University team under the leadership of Nick Devoogdt and a French team from INSERM, Serge Muyldermans and his team, associated with VIB and Vrije Universiteit Brussel, have succeeded in developing the first patient-friendly, non-invasive method for differentiating dangerous strictures in blood vessels, so-called vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques, from less dangerous ones.

5 Apr 2012

Researchers uncover mechanism that explains link between autoimmunity and atherosclerosis

Patients with autoimmune diseases often show a predisposition to develop "hardening of the arteries" or atherosclerosis. LMU researchers have now uncovered a mechanism that establishes a causal link between the two disorders.

5 Apr 2012

Bare platinum coils vs. newer gel-coated coils for aneurysm treatment

Approximately 6 million Americans have brain aneurysms, a condition that occurs when a weak or thin spot develops on a blood vessel in the brain causing it to balloon. Often, these do not cause symptoms and go undetected, but every year an estimated 30,000 Americans experience a ruptured aneurysm that bleeds into the brain causing a life threatening injury.

4 Apr 2012

High fat diets cause damage to blood vessels earlier than previously thought

High fat diets cause damage to blood vessels earlier than previously thought, and these structural and mechanical changes may be the first step in the development of high blood pressure.

4 Apr 2012

Public service announcement on pediatric pulmonary hypertension

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) sounds like an adult disease, but the life-threatening lung condition strikes children too. Ten-year-old Lucas Van Wormer is one of them.

3 Apr 2012

Combination of Avastin and Metformin may effectively reduce melanoma growth

COMBINING the experimental drug Avastin (bevacizumab) with the diabetes drug Metformin almost doubles its ability to reduce skin cancer growth, according to a study in Cancer Discovery.

2 Apr 2012

Dengue infection makes mosquito's blood feeding more efficient

Mosquitoes infected with dengue virus experience an array of changes in the activity of genes and associated functions of their salivary glands, and these changes may lead to increased virus transmission, according to a recent study led by George Dimopoulos, Ph.D., of the Malaria Research Institute and Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University.

31 Mar 2012

Researchers unravel critical regulatory mechanism behind angiogenesis

Max Planck researchers unravel a critical regulatory mechanism controlling blood vessel growth that might help solve drug resistance problems in the future.

30 Mar 2012

JDRF, iCo Therapeutics partner for iCo-007 Phase II trial in DME

iCo Therapeutics, a Vancouver-based drug reprofiling company and JDRF, the largest charitable funder of type 1 Diabetes (T1D) research have joined forces to investigate a potential new treatment for one of the most common complications of diabetes, diabetic macular edema.

29 Mar 2012

Hyperinsulinemia itself not a cause of atherosclerosis

A number of studies have shown that excess insulin circulating in the bloodstream is a major independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. However, a new study from Joslin Diabetes Center finds that this condition, called hyperinsulinemia, is itself not a cause of atherosclerosis.

28 Mar 2012

Previously unknown mechanism helps intestinal bacteria to affect formation of blood vessels

Researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have discovered a previously unknown mechanism which helps intestinal bacteria to affect the formation of blood vessels. The results, which are presented in Nature, may provide future treatments of intestinal diseases and obesity.

27 Mar 2012

Detailed CT scan can safely and quickly rule out possibility of heart attack

A highly detailed CT scan of the heart can safely and quickly rule out the possibility of a heart attack among many patients who come to hospital emergency rooms with chest pain, according to the results of a study that will be presented by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania today at the American College of Cardiology's 61st Annual Scientific Session and published concurrently in the New England Journal of Medicine.

27 Mar 2012